Morris Knolls (3) at Chatham (0) - Boys Ice Hockey

Morris Knolls knows all too well there is no night off against a Mennen Division opponent.

In what could easily have been a trap game for the undefeated team from Denville, Morris Knolls got goals from Ryan Deemer, Eric Haddock-Weiler and Jack Monahan along with 36 saves from goalie Mike Goffredo to escape with a 3-0 victory over Chatham in a hard-fought, penalty-ridden game at Mennen Arena last night in Morris Township.

Deemer connected on a power play with 57 seconds left in the first period before Haddock-Weiler scored with 1:21 left in the second period as Morris Knolls delivered two pivotal blows to its Mennen Division foe at the end of each period.

"Those two late goals right before the end of the period, those are huge momentum changers. They can bring a team down just as quickly as they can bring a team back up," Morris Knolls coach Walt Keiper said. "Top to bottom, all six teams in this division can beat each other on any given night. You have to show up to play."

After Haddock-Weiler connected on a one-timer from Ben Schaeffer with 1:21 left in the second to make it 2-0, Morris Knolls rode the momentum into the third period and 2:11 into the final frame Jack Monahan delivered the final blow.

"I handled a long pass from Danny Dafonseca, their defensemen was to my back side so I protected the puck with my body, looked where their goalie was and brought to the net far side and went low blocker," Monahan said. "Everyone's beating up on each other in this division. We know it's anyone's game and we know we have to come out and give it everything we've got every time."

With both teams coming out looking to establish the neutral zone, the ferocity of several open-ice hits boiled over to the penalty box as the Morris County rivals combined for 14 minors and a major totaling 38 minutes in penalties.

Throughout the chaos in front of him, however, Morris Knolls' senior goalie Mike Goffredo kept his cool in between the pipes.

"My defense did a really great job of clearing out bodies and getting rid of any rebounds I was letting up," Goffredo, who finished with 36 saves to post the shutout, said. "I just played my game.

Goffredo did acknowledge the high number of penalties in the game, though.

"Most of the kids we have on this team are new, even the kids we had last year didn't see a lot of ice time last year," Goffredo said. "We took too many penalties that took away from our momentum, but we're starting to gel."

Chatham goalie Jordan Boles also battled hard to keep his team in the game.

"Both teams played hard. I think we are a better team, we just didn't execute," Boles, who started for the first time in three games and finished with 19 saves, said. "Physically we're there, we're playing hard. We just have to get our head straight and put the puck in the net."

Morris Knolls remains unbeaten at 5-0-1, while Chatham drops to 1-3.

"We could use our schedule as a crutch, some people might, but we absolutely will not," Chatham first-year coach Frank Gilberti said. "We've learned a lot these first four games which will serve us well down the road."